Is it wrong of me to set my mom's homepage to Snopes.com?

[aphex]

Every other day i'm getting e-mailed another 'internet hoax' that my mom and all her friends believe to be real.

Is it wrong of me to set her homepage to Snopes.com next time I stop home?

 

[pyonir]

hahahahahaha... i tell my family members to "stop emailing me this crap...it's not real" and most of them comply.

With this hotmail going to live.com and all this crap, i've had to reset my parent's homepage numerous times...they think because when they start IE and it doesn't bring them directly to hotmail that the internet is down. My poor parents...

 

[Steve]

I say there's no better way to drive the point home. It might even work.

 

[mundane]

After the first time, I politely told my mom about the Snopes website. Now she checks it before sending me a forward.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: pyonir
hahahahahaha... i tell my family members to "stop emailing me this crap...it's not real" and most of them comply.

With this hotmail going to live.com and all this crap, i've had to reset my parent's homepage numerous times...they think because when they start IE and it doesn't bring them directly to hotmail that the internet is down. My poor parents...

lol, my mom calls me all the time with the same problem... "JOSH!!! MY HOTMAIL BOOKMARK IS BROKEN!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!"

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: pyonir
hahahahahaha... i tell my family members to "stop emailing me this crap...it's not real" and most of them comply.

With this hotmail going to live.com and all this crap, i've had to reset my parent's homepage numerous times...they think because when they start IE and it doesn't bring them directly to hotmail that the internet is down. My poor parents...

lol, my mom calls me all the time with the same problem... "JOSH!!! MY HOTMAIL BOOKMARK IS BROKEN!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!"

I'm not alone! I feel ya brother... i get a call "our internet is down again!" Me: Mom, just because you can't get hotmail up when you open IE doesn't mean the whole internet is down. Try going to a different site. Mom: how do i do that? Which site?

*sigh*

LOL

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: aphex
Every other day i'm getting e-mailed another 'internet hoax' that my mom and all her friends believe to be real.

Is it wrong of me to set her homepage to Snopes.com next time I stop home?

I wish that would work with my father-in-law.

When he sends me an e-mail, I run it through snopes. Then, I e-mail the link back to him and his entire mailing list (because he also refuses to use bcc).

You would think that it would sink in eventually.


In the past two years, I have had to deal with e-mails regarding the following urban legends and solved mysteries:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/children/hannes.asp (Resolved months before)
http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/ppa.asp (True, but outdated)
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/videoclip.asp
http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/lipstick.asp
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/jailcall.asp
http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/sperm.asp
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/slowdance.asp


I also had the following exchange with my FIL (typos are in the originals):

FIL wrote:

"URBAN LEDGED??

-----

FIL
FIL@FIL.org

----- Original Message -----
(Old header with list of 20 e-mail addresses)
Subject: FW: ITZHAK PERLMAN


> Subject: ITZHAK PERLMAN
>
>
> Even if you have seen this before, it is worth seeing and reading again!
>
>
>
>
> On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a
> concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City . If you..."

etc. etc.



I wrote in response:

"http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/perlman.htm"


FIL wrote:

"how do you find things like this? you are amazing"


I wrote:

"I did a search on Google for "itzhak perlman three strings"

It was the first item listed."

(This was before I just started going directly to snopes.)



MotionMan

 

[legoman666]

heh, I never get any emails like that, but my mother does. She knows all about snopes and sends snopes links to people who send her those spam emails.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: aphex
Every other day i'm getting e-mailed another 'internet hoax' that my mom and all her friends believe to be real.

Is it wrong of me to set her homepage to Snopes.com next time I stop home?

i feel ya.

i reply to my mom with the snopes link and add the message, "hoax" to it.
at least i'm not getting those "free gift card if 10 people forward this email" hoaxes anymore.

 

[skyking]

A longtime friend of my wife's sent me the bogus carlin quote email, and I linked snopes and explained urban legends. In retrospect, I might not have been too kind. We never talk to them anymore:Q

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: pyonir

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: pyonir
hahahahahaha... i tell my family members to "stop emailing me this crap...it's not real" and most of them comply.

With this hotmail going to live.com and all this crap, i've had to reset my parent's homepage numerous times...they think because when they start IE and it doesn't bring them directly to hotmail that the internet is down. My poor parents...

lol, my mom calls me all the time with the same problem... "JOSH!!! MY HOTMAIL BOOKMARK IS BROKEN!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!"

I'm not alone! I feel ya brother... i get a call "our internet is down again!" Me: Mom, just because you can't get hotmail up when you open IE doesn't mean the whole internet is down. Try going to a different site. Mom: how do i do that? Which site?

*sigh*

LOL

Lol it took me 1.5 years to teach my mom how to use her e-mail, then hotmail switching to live screwed it.

Mom: "Scott! It's telling my to sign in with a username!"
Me: "Yes mom, just like it always has!"
Mom: "But there's no password box, what's going on?"
*sigh*
*Me goes downstairs, clicks on username, password box appears!"
Mom: "Now how did you do that?"
Me:"I clicked on your username Mom."
Mom: "Wait, I've got to write that down or I'll forget it!"
*sigh* *shakes head*

 

[Jhill]

That's the best idea I've ever heard of.

 

[Jeff7]

I guess I'm lucky. I told my mom about e-mail hoaxes, and to check out Snopes before forwarding stuff. She actually does it now.

 

[pontifex]

won't help unless she knows what it is and actually looks up stuff.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Replying to all with a link to snopes is a quick way to stop those. Nothing like embarrassing them in front of a group of people to get the point across.

 

[DrPizza]

At work, I'll do a reply all with a snopes link and quote, "just so no one is alarmed by this..." and I try to word the rest professionally enough to make it sound like I was genuinely concerned and not trying to make the sender look like a moron. (although, in reality, I'm not concerned and I *am* trying to embarass the sender - if they're a repeat offender.)

If it's to my personal email, then it's no holds barred flaming time. I especially love it (as is often the case) when all of the headers are still there, going back to 2005. Then, I'll send it to all the original senders, bcc'ing everyone else.

The best was when a "stranger" sent me something warning about a "virus" on my computer and told me to delete it. "It" was actually a necessary windows file. That drew a relatively mean-spirited response ridiculing anyone for forwarding crap like that without verifying it first. The original sender turned out to be a real estate agent (who I only used once, and didn't like). Anyway, she responded to everyone (except me) about how I was wrong, and an idiot, and anything she could do to save face. Unfortunately for her, she had two of our email addresses. I still got a copy of her ripping on me (sent to a different address.) My response to that one was twice as satisfying, and left absolutely no room for rebuttal on her part.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Replying to all with a link to snopes is a quick way to stop those. Nothing like embarrassing them in front of a group of people to get the point across.

You would think.

See my post above.

MotionMan

 

[d33pt]

This is why i will never get a computer for my parents. They've been fine without one for 55 years. No need to change it now.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
At work, I'll do a reply all with a snopes link and quote, "just so no one is alarmed by this..." and I try to word the rest professionally enough to make it sound like I was genuinely concerned and not trying to make the sender look like a moron. (although, in reality, I'm not concerned and I *am* trying to embarass the sender - if they're a repeat offender.)

If it's to my personal email, then it's no holds barred flaming time. I especially love it (as is often the case) when all of the headers are still there, going back to 2005. Then, I'll send it to all the original senders, bcc'ing everyone else.

The best was when a "stranger" sent me something warning about a "virus" on my computer and told me to delete it. "It" was actually a necessary windows file. That drew a relatively mean-spirited response ridiculing anyone for forwarding crap like that without verifying it first. The original sender turned out to be a real estate agent (who I only used once, and didn't like). Anyway, she responded to everyone (except me) about how I was wrong, and an idiot, and anything she could do to save face. Unfortunately for her, she had two of our email addresses. I still got a copy of her ripping on me (sent to a different address.) My response to that one was twice as satisfying, and left absolutely no room for rebuttal on her part.

OWNED!!

 

[BoomerD]

I wouldn't set the home page to Snopes, but I WOULD add it to the bookmarks/favorites with the instructions to check the Snopes site before forwarding any e-mail crap...

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

OMG, my mother in law gets out all the anti Democrat crap. Mind you, I'm not either a Pub or Dem, but if half the shit she sends out were true liberals would have eaten all the babies by now.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
OMG, my mother in law gets out all the anti Democrat crap. Mind you, I'm not either a Pub or Dem, but if half the shit she sends out were true liberals would have eaten all the babies by now.

Well we try, but people just keep breeding so damn fast, and we don't want to contribute to the obesity problem.

 

[Triumph]

In response to the OP, I don't think what you did was wrong, per se, but you're wrong in thinking that it will do any good. When it comes to computers, old people are dumber than Pavlov's dog. They absolutely refuse to learn from past experience. We reply to almost every single one of my dad's emails with a link to snopes, he doesn't learn. I especially love it when my brother replies to all my brothers and sisters, "Stop sending me this shit."

Now my dad is on the right wing kick, he sends us every forward he can about some town getting rid of their christmas trees, or Starbucks charging the troops for coffee, or just some stupid shit with a flag, an eagle, and a crying fireman or some shit like that.

AND he buys me a subscription to Reader's Digest EVERY YEAR, which is like all of that stuff, but IN PRINT!

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: Triumph
In response to the OP, I don't think what you did was wrong, per se, but you're wrong in thinking that it will do any good. When it comes to computers, old people are dumber than Pavlov's dog. They absolutely refuse to learn from past experience.

Why the hell is that?

MotionMan (who has a degree in psychology, but still does not understand WHY!?!?)

 

[quackagator]

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: Triumph
In response to the OP, I don't think what you did was wrong, per se, but you're wrong in thinking that it will do any good. When it comes to computers, old people are dumber than Pavlov's dog. They absolutely refuse to learn from past experience.

Why the hell is that?

MotionMan (who has a degree in psychology, but still does not understand WHY!?!?)

That's a dumb statement